I'm certain the high figure for a deposit is correct. Although I've "arrived" in Moscow only once (got an apartment), I believe almost all flat agents want 100% of a month's rent. Now he's a *really* crazy part about it. On top of paying 100% of the first month's rent to the flat agent, my landlady apparently had to pay 100% of a month's rent to them also. I used Miel.
CS

Down here the deal seems to be : you pay 3 months rent straight away (usually, or sometimes 2), + 0.5 months finder's fee to the agency (i.e. fee, not deposit).
Or you can avoid the latter by using personal ads.
By the way, a lot of the ads have 'for a Russian family' in them. We all know what that means...

Waxwing, I forget if you're from America or not. When I was a kid "caucasian" was the official word for "white". I remember hearing somewhere about real Caucasians, who weren't exactly white, but never expected to actually come into conflict with it in real life. Is this just an American use?

Also never expected to see an election where the popular vote didn't carry it.......

I thought what you wrote meant "no foreigners."

Yes, please let us know how it goes. I'm curious about things in other parts.

I have read several discussions about this on a russian language site. The use of 'Caucasian' as a name for white people came about as a result of some half-baked anthropological research or other - by Americans I think, so it was probably first used in America and then spread to UK and maybe Europe. I don't really know the details. Apparently it has been discredited in some way.

It's really ironic, because in Russia, as I'm sure you're aware, people from the Caucasus (not caucuses,don't forget the difference! ) are commonly labelled 'chyorni' because of their darker skin.

Funny old world, eh?

There's a huge and highly complex racial mixture down here. In Stavropol, the ethnic Russians still dominate but you only have to head another 150km or so further south to Pyatigorsk etc. , the spa towns, and you'll see a big difference. Ossetians, Cherkessians, Chechens, Dagestanis, etc. etc. I forgot all the names. Not to mention the Georgians, Azeris, Armenians whose origins are further south. And they all have their own languages, although you hear them on the street only rarely.
There is racial tension of course, as well as religious tensions due to the coexistence of Islam and Christianity. But it's nowhere near as dangerous around here as people make out.

The people that originally came out of Caucasia were white people. Whether or not the people currently in Caucasia are related to these same people I don't know.

Keep this in mind. Iran used to be called Persia. They were the original Aryan (Iran=Aryan) Nation. The people in Iran today aren't white. Their name change has something to do with the Nazis, but I can't explain how... well, because I don't remember where I heard it.

Who's responsible? The Mongels.

Why we use the word "Caucasian" to refer to a white person? Well... using a color word to describe someone (black, red, white, yellow) can be politically incorrect. In the states, we don't refer to a person that's black as black, we say African-American. What do you call a white person? American? British? Irish? Why we picked Caucasian, I think, is because when the original Caucasians came to Europe they had a population explosion and grew rapidly. In a sense, they did the same the Mongels did, only made people more white. The idea is that the original Caucasians "whitened" the population of Europe and so everyone that is white is somehow related to them. Does sound rather half-baked, doesn't it? I always hated Anthropology classes.

Disclaimer: Some of this information I'm not 100% certain of. If I'm wrong, just PM me and I'll give you a full refund.

The salary for a first contract BKC-IH teacher varies from 550 to 675 dollars per month depending on qualifications and experience. If you sign another contract, there is a 75 dollar per month increase.
It should also be noted that BKC provide free shared accomodation and a 50 dollar per month bonus upon completion of contract. They also pay 500 dollars flight allowance for Europeans and 650 for others (half after three months and the remainder upon completion of contract). They also reimburse teachers for visa expenses upon competion of contract.
So, all in all, it won't put you in the Bill Gates league, but it will afford a reasonably comfortable lifestyle.

I read this forum from time to time It's interesting that there are so many posts on BKC. I worked for BKC St.Petersburg for 2 years (no, I wasn't a teacher there). Had my share of really harsh and good times
But but but...
Miss you, BKC